Assalamualaikum and a very good morning to honorable adjudicators, wise

time keeper, beloved teachers and fellow comrade and friends. My name is
Nuralyah Zahirah and today, I am going to tell and share with u about a story
entitled ‘1001 night’. So, sit tight and enjoy.

Let me tell you a story about brave and intelligent woman who captivated
Shah, the king with 1001 nights. I speak of her, Scheherazade, the greatest
storyteller the world has ever known.

She lived in a time of sorrow for the ruler of the land held in his heart an awful
grudge against all women. His name was Shahryar, He was in the fullness of
his youth and power, but as yet, without a wife. One evening he stood with his
younger brother, Prince Zaman, on the balcony of the palace, which
overlooked the pleasure gardens. They watched a young serving girl as she
stepped out to the fountain to fetch water.

Shahryar whispered: “See brother. Is she not as lovely as the moon and as
graceful as a gazelle?”

But Zaman, replied: “Do not let your eyes deceive you. Although you are older
than me, and more powerful, yet I am more experienced in the ways of
women, for I already have a wife. I tell you no woman on earth has a pure and
faithful heart. Each day I watch my Queen. I see her give a visiting prince
such a look that makes my blood turn angry. But it does not stop there. She
gives the chief chamberlain a cheeky smile that is quite inappropriate. Why,
the day before I left my palace to pay honour to you, I saw her whispering to
the cook! She brings nothing but shame upon me.“

Shahryar laughed: “My younger brother, you have been looking pale and ill of
late. Now I know the cause. Jealousy is eating you up because you have such
a lovely wife!”

At this Zaman became quite offended, but he replied in no more than a

mutter: “My brother, you will learn for yourself in due time.”

Shahryar was ready to marry. It seemed that wherever he looked he saw a

beautiful woman. But none so lovely as the one the two brothers encountered
the very next day. They got up at dawn to go hunting. Just as the sun was
spreading its gentle rays, they rode their horses side by side along the sea
shore.

As the wave broke into white foam, the genie leapt onto the beach, and
seized the girl up in his hands. He turned his awful eyes on the brothers, and
they were so full of fire that they feared his gaze might burn them up.

As soon as he had issued this warning, both the genie and the girl spun round
and round until they became a whirl wind that sped away across the sea.

The next morning, he commanded the minister to bring a bride to him that
very evening, and in the morning to take her way to be executed.
Each and every day he was to do the same, to bring another bride for him to
marry, and in the morning to strike off her head.

At last, one day, as the minster searched the city, he could not find a bride for
the Shah that night. He returned home in sorrow and anxiety, for he was
afraid for his own life when he failed that evening to present a new bride to the
Shah.

Now he had two daughters, Scheherazade and Dunyazad .

The minister heard his daughter’s words, and although he greatly respected
his daughter’s wisdom, he thought these words were the greatest foolishness
he had ever heard. He would not hear of his beloved daughter risking her life
in this way. He went to the Shah and confessed that he was unable to bring
him any more brides, for there were none left in the land.

Shah Shahryar sat thoughtfully on this thrown and said:

“None, but your own two daughters. Do not hide them from me, or it will cost
you your head.”

And so it was, after long deliberation, and much persuasion from

Scheherazade that he brought his own daughter to the Shah as his bride.

That night, when Scheherazade lifted the veil from her lovely face, the Shah
was pleased with what he saw. But there were tears in her eyes.

“What troubles you?” asked the Shah, thinking that he knew the answer. But
she replied not that she was afraid of what would happen to her in the
morning, but that she was missing her sister. She begged that she could bring
her to sleep with them that night, so that she would not be lonely. The Shah
willingly agreed, and all went according to the plan that the ingenious
Scheherazade had formed. Her sister Dunyazad slept on a couch at the foot
of the royal bed, and towards morning, as she had been told to do by her
sister, she awoke and said:

“Oh Scheherazade, I cannot sleep. Will you not tell me one of your wonderful
stories? For there is not a soul on this earth who can spin a tale as delightful
and delectable as yours?”

And Scheherazade stirred and said: “I too cannot sleep and I will tell you a
tale with joy, if this great king will permit me.”

The Shah, who was also sleepless and restless, was pleased with the
prospect of hearing a tale. And so Scheherazade began to relate the first
story of 1001 Nights.

The moral of the story is we must be kind and respect others as much we
wanted to be respected. I hope you enjoy the story. Till we meet again.
Asssalamualaikum W.b.t